


The Mantel Mystery

by TessaTheDreamer



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: David being the Golden Boy, Gen, Jealousy, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 19:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18452687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaTheDreamer/pseuds/TessaTheDreamer
Summary: Jake is finally getting to meet the rest of Amy's brothers at a dinner at Mr and Mrs Santiago's house. Except David. Because he's busy, as always. Except... He's there. And when the mantel, on which stands his pictures, is found in pieces, everyone is a suspect.





	The Mantel Mystery

“-and please don't talk to Alex about any of your cases. He can get very argumentative. You know… Lawyers.” Amy stopped talking to glance at Jake, who was looking at her with his mouth curved into a smile.  
“You seem nervous,” he joked.  
“I am, Jake, and this is serious,” she said, “it's important to me that you get along with my brothers. They're great and I love them and-”   
“Even David?” Jake asked.  
Amy glared at him.  
“Right,” he nodded, “not a good time to talk about your complicated relationship with him. Got it.”  
After a moment of silence, Amy grunted.  
“It's just,” she said, “ I don't want to think about him right now. He's not going to be there anyway, so why worry.”  
“What do you mean he won't be there?”  
“He’s busy. His co-worker has family problems and he promised to do her paperwork, because he's so perfect,” Amy said, faking a smile. “That's why he’s doing overtime.”  
“I thought you weren't so jealous of your brother anymore,” Jake retorted.  
“He’s still disgustingly perfect. Just because I don't care about being on the mantel anymore doesn't mean I have to like David.”  
The couple arrived at the door of the Santiagos’ house. Amy knocked, Jake squeezing her hand and smiling at her. Amy smiled back gratefully. Her face turned sour, though, when the locked clicked and the door swung open to reveal…  
“David?!”   
“Amy! Jake! It's so nice to see you,” David said, his always-perfect smile plastered across his perfect face.  
“W- wh- what are you doing here?” Amy asked, lifting her eyebrows, “I thought you were supposed to be helping out your co-worker.”  
“I was,” David said, as Jake and Amy stepped inside the house and the door locked behind them, “I finished it all early, so I thought I'd come and surprise everyone. Come on through to the dining room. Everyone’s already at the table.”  
“Of course they are,” Amy mumbled.  
Jake pulled her towards the chatter.  
“Are you okay?” he asked her.  
She nodded curtly.  
The table in the middle of the dining room erupted in ‘hello’s and laughs as Jake and Amy walked in and sat in the two free spots.   
Each brother came up to Jake, introducing themselves, then threatening to kill him if he ever hurt her. Every single one: Alexander, Sebastian, Samuel, Matt, Diego, Julian. David looked at him pitifully.   
By the end, Jake’s back was sore from all the bear hugs.  
***  
As the dinner went on, Jake sat glued to his chair. As the only free place was next to Mrs Santiago, he was too intimidated to move.  
He could finally relax when she went out of the room to bring out the dessert.  
“Dios mío!” Jake heard Camilla’s shout from outside the room.   
She rushed inside, face flushed and eyes angry. If looks could kill, everyone in the room would’ve dropped dead.   
“The mantel! It's destroyed! David’s photo, the decoration, everything!” she screamed, eyeing everyone.  
“What?” Sebastian said, his eyes wide.  
“Who did it? I want to congratulate them!” Diego said, grinning.  
“Diego!” Camilla hissed. “This is not a laughing matter. Someone destroyed the mantel and made a mess around the fireplace. I will know who did it and I will put their picture on the stairwell!”  
Jake looked around at the Santiagos.  
“I shall find out who did it, Mrs Santiago,” Jake said, adapting a British, Sherlock-Holmes-y voice. If he had glasses, he's most likely have whipped them off his face in a dramatic manner, or twirled his moustache while surveying the crowd gathered around the table, or lit up his pipe- Something detective-y.  
“Are you sure you can do that, Jake?” Camilla asked.  
“Yes, Mrs Santiago. I will get down to it. I will find the murdere- I mean, the destroyer of the mantel!” He put his hands together and twisted his face, as if trying to look thoughtful.  
“Too much?” he asked Amy.  
“Definitely too much.”

When the whole family gathered around the fireplace, Jake stood up and wandered over to the front of the room.  
“Now…” he begun, “who shall I start with.”  
“I think it's clear, Jake,” Sebastian said, “we all know Amy did it. She's the most jealous of David out of all of us.”  
“That's not true!” Amy said, “I put all of that behind me.”  
“Did you, Amy Santiago?” Jake asked, “Or did you just say that so no one would suspect you! Maybe this was your plan all along!”  
“Aren't you supposed to be on my side?” Amy asked.  
“I am on the side of justice. No one else’s!” Jake proclaimed, raising his hand as if he was Hamlet during one of his monologues.  
Amy rolled her eyes.  
“Now, Amy, what were you doing when you left the dinner table in the middle of the conversation?” Jake asked.  
“Like I said when I was leaving the table - I went to the bathroom.”  
“Well, Amy Santiago, if I recall correctly… Diego -” Jake pointed at him, “- was also in the bathroom at the time. Am I correct?”  
Diego nodded curtly.  
“And - if I recall correctly - you returned from the bathroom before Diego. So, Amy, what were you really doing?” Jake crossed his arms, striding towards her.  
“Fine!” she said. “I went outside to smoke. I was stressed out by this whole dinner and… it's stupid.”   
“Aw, I’m sorry, babe,” Jake broke character and patted her back, before striding back to the front. “But if it wasn't Amy, then it must have been… Diego!”  
He laughed, then said, “Why would I destroy the mantel? I do not care about any of this competition crap.”  
“That's exactly why. And, you've been awfully quiet and reserved since I begun this investigation. Which leads me to believe that you're hiding something.”  
Diego kept quiet, fiddling with his hands in his lap.  
“Ah-ha! You are hiding something,” Jake exclaimed. “See, I’m good at reading people. And fiddling is a sign of that. So what is it?”  
“I don't have to tell you,” Diego said.  
“You do. Otherwise you are admitting that you destroyed the mantel.”  
“I already said, I don't care about the mantel,” Diego raised his voice.  
“Then what's your excuse?”  
“I'm dating someone new!” he snapped, “I went out to answer my phone, because they were calling me.”  
“Why didn't you tell us you are dating someone?” Camilla asked.  
“Because…” Diego looked down at his fidgeting hands, “you'd never approve of them.”  
“Okay… That went south real quick,” Jake said.” So let's continue onto the next suspect - Matt!”  
Matthew sighed.  
“I didn’t destroy the mantel. I did go out of the dining room, but only to take a call. I got a callback for a pretty big role,” he said in a bored voice, “And before anyone asks, I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to steal Amy’s thunder. This dinner was supposed to be about her showing off Jake to all of us.”  
“That's really nice of you, Matt,” Amy smiled at him.  
“Yes… But let's continue this investigation and leave the hugging until later,” Jake said.  
“We aren't hugging-” Amy said.  
“Let's leave the hugging for later, Amy,” he said, “now, the next suspect is Alex. You were the last one to go out of the room before the mantel was discovered to be ruined. What's your defence, Mr Lawyer?”  
“My children are staying with a new nanny today. I went out to call her and make sure everything was okay. That doesn't even matter, the mantel was already ruined when I left to make the call,” Alexander said.  
“I'm sorry, what?” Jake said.  
“The mantel was already ruined when I left the room to make a call, are you deaf or something?” Alex repeated.  
“Dad left the room right before Alex,” Sebastian said.  
“Why would Dad ruin the mantel?” Matt said.  
“By accident! We all know how clumsy Dad is,” Samuel spoke up.  
“Victor could not have done such thing,” Camilla shouted.  
“We all know it was Sebastian,” Julian said.  
“What about you, Julian? You've been awfully quiet too,” Sebastian retorted.  
Jake looked at Amy, his eyes wide. She shrugged, as if this was an everyday occurrence.  
“Guys,” a voice said above the chaos.  
Everyone turned to see who spoke.  
“It was me. I ruined the mantel.” It was David, standing in the corner of the room.  
“Of course, darling. As always, you take the blame that's not yours,” Camilla said, “you are so perfect.”  
“I'm serious. I destroyed the mantel,” he repeated, his voice faltering.   
“I got a call from my captain. He told me one of my cases, one I thought was solved, was still open. That I misread or looked over some evidence and the perp proved his innocence and was now filing a complaint. I was angry at myself for screwing everything up. And in the heat of the moment, I ruined the mantel. Because I'm not worth of being on it anymore,” David explained, his voice cracking, “I apologise. I'm sorry I forced you to put so much effort into the investigation.”  
“Don't worry about it,” Jake said.  
“I know you're disappointed in me, Mother. All of you are.”  
“This is more intriguing than any TV show I’ve ever watched,” Diego said.  
“Does that mean David is being taken off the mantel?” Sebastian asked.  
“Of course not. He apologised,” Camilla smiled at David fondly.  
The rest of the Santiagos groaned collectively.  
“Actually, David… If you want, we could help you figure out what went wrong with your case. Maybe you're actually in the right,” Amy proposed.  
“Thank you, Amy. That's a wonderful idea,” David said.

Jake watched from afar as the siblings gathered around the coffee table, talking amongst themselves, and he couldn't help, but feel proud. He watched, as Amy commanded the group, giving everyone roles and taking in all the ideas.  
Soon enough, they had solved it. David was wrong. But so was the perp. He had overlooked some evidence that proved he was really guilty.  
Amy stood next to Jake, as Mr and Mrs Santiago congratulated David, even though the effort wasn't his.   
“I'm sorry you're not getting the credit,” Jake said.  
“I don't care, Jake. Like I said, I'm over it,” Amy smiled.  
“Now that you see you work best together, do you think you’ll stop competing with David?”   
“Not a chance.”

**Author's Note:**

> Make sure to leave a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed x


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